Sealing packages



March 19, 1968 A. J. GASS SEALING PACKAGES Original Filed June 24, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. A. J. GASS March 19, 1968 A. J. GASS SEALING PACKAGES 5 Sheets-Sheet Z Original Filed June 24, 1964 INVENTOR. A. J. GASS ATTORNEYS Mafch 19, 1968 A. J. GASS SEALING PACKAGES I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed June 24, 1964 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,373,861 SEALING PACKAGES Andrew J. Gass, Summit, N.J., assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Original application June 24, 1964, Ser. No. 377,671, now Patent No. 3,331,183. Divided and this application Apr. 7, 19'67, Ser. No. 629,160

4 Claims. (Cl. 198-131) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Pocket means for supporting containers therein for subsequent covering, said pockets having interior walls shaped to support the sides of the packages therein and being slidably biased away from one another, said pocket means also carrying rotatable means for coacting with guide means.

This is a division of US. application Ser. No. 377,671, filed June 24, 1964, now US. Patent No. 3,331,183.

This invention relates to apparatus for sealing thermoplastic packages wherein there is provided at least two parallel rows of individual pockets that are open at the top and the bottom, but are adapted so that the interior walls of said pockets conform, abut and support the side and at least part of the end walls of an empty package which is placed in said pocket prior to filling and sealing same. Another aspect of this invention relates to the pocket apparatus as above wherein each of two separate but parallel pockets is slidably connected and forced apart by resilient means and wherein is provided on the sides of each pocket opposite from the side which contains said slidable connection at least one rotating member which will coact with at least one suitable guide means to transversely force the two pockets as close to a side-by-side abutting relation as is possible, support said pockets during their longitudinal movement through the apparatus hereinabove stated, and/ or maintain said pockets in a level line of travel, thereby eliminating vertical and/0r horizontal deviations from said line of travel.

Thermoplastic films and sheet materials, e.g. polyethylene, are very useful for packaging many types of commodities, for example, food products. One of the advantages of the use of thermoplastic materials is that heat sealing can be utilized to fabricate and seal the packages, be they bags, boxes, wrappings, etc.

A concept of this invention involves the forcing or squeezing of parallel rows of pockets transversely together to a point of closest possible physical approach of the parallel pockets prior to application of a unitary cover sheet and maintaining this close side-by-side relationship of the parallel pockets during subsequent temporary attaching of the unitary cover to the packages and longitudinal severing of the unitary cover to form individual covers on the individual packages. The pockets at their point of closest approach or substantially abutting or substantially contiguous are then separated transversely by any suitable means after the slitting operation. It is also within the scope of this aspect of the invention to support the bottoms of the containers in the bottomless pockets during the time in which the contents of said packages is placed therein and even later when said contents may be leveled and/ or compacted in said containers. This type of support will prevent bulging of the bottoms of the containers as well as the sides of same. Furthermore, it is within the scope of this aspect of the invention to provide multiple reciprocating plates or flaps or rollers which intermittently fold over the filled package or container and compact or mound the material in the container while the bottom of said container is supported as discussed herein- Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to avoid waste of cover material in a package or container sealing operation. It is another object of this invention to prevent package bridging and still provide sufiicient room to etfect a substantial seal when sealing at least two parallel rows of packages. It is another object of this invention to maintain register of cover print to the container or package with a single registering device in a pocket conveyor containing at least two parallel rows of pockets in a single conveyor lane. It is another object of this invention to produce a sealed package of uniform overall configuration.

Other aspects, objects and the several advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the are upon a study of this disclosure, drawing and the appended claims.

A better understanding of this invention and all of its aspects and advantages will be achieved by reference to the drawings, of which:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view, partially diagrammatic, of the complete heat sealing machine of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic representation of the apparatus and method employed for forcing or squeezing two parallel rows of package-containing pockets transversely together, applying a single sheet of cover material to the two parallel pockets and packages therein, cutting the single sheet of cover material longitudinally to form separate covers on each of the two parallel packages and, finally, transversely separating the two pockets.

FIGURE 3 is a schematic representation showing two container pockets viewed from a position within the conveyor enclosure and slightly below the level of these pockets as they progress through the machine of FIGURE 1 on the upper level of the main conveyor;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic representation of the connecting means between the pockets and conveying chain of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an end view of a conveying chain and its support of FIGURE 3.

As illustrated in FIGURE 1, there is provided a chain conveyor 22, provided with one or more chains 21, and traversing sprockets 1 and 1', in such a manner that when pockets are affixed to the chain they will travel through the full operation of said machine and then be returned to the starting point of the operation for another traverse thereof. Aflixed to conveyor 22 are two parallel rows of bottomless supporting pockets 10 and 11, which pockets contain a central opening 3 adapted to receive and support packages or containers to be filled and sealed by the machine. As shown in FIGURE 1, pocket 11 has mounted on an exterior surface thereof rotating means 24 and 25, hereinafter described relative to FIGURE 3. Means 25 is adapted so as to coact with cam rail 27. Means 24 is adapted to coact with rail 2 and thereby support said pocket on its return travel on the underside of conveyor lane 22 and can be adapted to coact with a supporting rail similar to that shown by reference numeral 2 in FIGURE 1 to support pocket 11 during any or all of the operations shown as applied to the top surface of conveyor 22-.

From the original starting point of the overall operation the pockets are loaded with empty containers then pass to a charging area wherein the empty containers are filled with the contents ultimately to be sealed therein. Suitable contents charging apparatus is known to the art and is depicted in FIGURE 1 by means 31. The charging of the contents may even be done by hand, if desired. After the contents of the containers has been charged thereinto, pockets 10 and 11 may move the containers to a leveling and/ or mounding and/ or compacting operation (not shown) wherein the contents of the containers is adjusted therein. During this adjusting operation, the bottoms of the containers in bottomless pockets 10 and 11 may be supported by any suitable means, if desired.

When the contents of the containers are suitably adjusted, pockets and 11 move the full containers to the covering operation. Just prior to reaching the covering operation, pockets 10 and 11 are transversely forced together forming a single lane, as is schematically shown in FIGURE 2 and described hereinafter. If desired, this transverse forcing together of the parallel pockets may be achieved at any earlier stage as heretofore discussed, for example, at the charging stage represented by reference numeral 31.

While pockets 18 and 11 are progressing toward the covering operation, roll 40 of cover material 41 is being fed by means of feed rollers 44 in a manner described hereinafter. This step forms a single cover sheet as is represented by reference numeral 48. The single cover sheet 48 is fed into differential feed belt apparatus which comprises belt 55 and opposing belt 59, which can either be a single wide belt or a multiplicity of narrower and parallel but separated belts and can be powered by a single power source, not shown. The differential feed belt apparatus then applies the single cover sheet 48 to at least two of the parallel pockets passing through the cover application apparatus, i.e. pockets 10 and 11, as shown in FIGURE 2. After the single cover sheet 48 has been placed upon the pockets and, therefor, the containers in pockets 10 and 11 by differential belt feeds 55 and 59, said single cover sheet is then temporarily attached or tacked to the containers, for example, to the container flanges, of both containers in pockets 10 and 11 while said cover sheet is still a unitary member. The temporary attaching is accomplished by means of at least one heat conducting band 62 which traverses rol'ls 58, 6t), and 61, and is in contact with heating means 63 through rollers 64 and 65. Preferably, there are three tacking bands similar to band 62 made of metal and adapted so that a temporary attachment between the unitary cover sheet 48 and the two containers in pockets 10 and 11 is achieved on at least part of the containers in pockets 10 and 11, for example, on the edge of the container in pocket 11 on the side on which reside members 24 and 25, and on the edge of each container on each side of a line between the two pockets indicated by reference numeral 22. The unitary cover sheet, after temporary attachment to the two or more containers, is longitudinally severed by means of cutter 66, for example, along the line represented by reference numeral 22.

Pockets 10 and 11 are then moved to a heat sealing operation wherein individual heat sealing heads 89 are moved into contact with at least part of each container, preferably around the periphery of each package or container in each pocket, and are maintained in contact therewith as the pockets continue to move longitudinally toward the end of the conveyor 22. The heating contact time is sufficient to heat seal the individual cover sheet of each container to said package. After traveling with and in contact with the container for a predetermined length of time and travel, each heating head is retracted in a vertical and horizontal manner to reposition same to contact a new container and seal same. More specifically, member 88 supports the multiplicity of heating heads by means of members 93 so that when member 88 is lowered, heating heads are applied not only to the containers in pockets 10 and 11, but also to containers in pockets following pockets 10 and 11. Each heating head 89 is maintained in contact with each package by means of resilient members 94 on each member 93. Each heating head contains therein a heating member 90 which, for example, is connected to a source of electricity by means of wires 91 and 92. Member 88 is supported by travelers 84 and 87 and rotating members 85 and 86. Rotating members 85 and 86 travel along member 76, thus allowing member 88 and its attached heating heads 89 to follow along the travel of each pocket contacted by said heating heads for a distance determined by the relationship of sprockets 79 and 80. When rotating member 86 nears the downstream end of member 76, air cylinder 70 is automatically activated by means not shown to retract member 71 and thereby, by means of clevis 72 and member 73, to rotate bell cranks 74 and 77 about pivots 74' and 77 so that members 75 and 78 are raised, thereby raising member 76. Thus, member 76 is raised by members 75 and 78 and, therefore, all heating heads 89 are retracted from contact with each individual container at substantially the same time. While the heating heads are in a vertically retracted position, member 88 is horizontally retracted to the upstream end of member 76 by means of member 83, which is attached at 82 to a chain 81. Chain 81 continuously rotates about sprockets 79 and 80, thereby moving member 88 in a reciprocal manner. Since conveyor 22 is continuously moving, the amount of horizontal retraction of member 88 must be adjusted so that heating heads 89 will move back and downwardly to contact the new containers to be sealed without skipping any even though the movement of conveyor 22 has continued.

After the heat sealing operation the sealed containers are passed to a cooling Zone wherein are provided individual cooling heads. Each cooling head is of such a configuration that when applied to each individual container a part of the cooling head will come into contact with at least a part of the sealed portion of that container and thereby cool same. The cooling head 110 is maintained in contact with the sealed portion by suitable means.

The power supply for the overall operation of the machine is preferably a single source connected to the machine and its various drive elements in any suitable manner known in the art. However, if desired, separate power sources can be attached in a known manner to any portion of the machine. For example, separate power sources can be attached to conveyor 22, to feed rollers 44, the drive roller for band 55 and/or roller 58, to chain 81, and so on. Also, any suitable means known in the art may be utilized on the machine of this invention to render same automatic in its operation.

FIGURE 2 shows a movement of pockets 10 and 11 toward and through the cover feeding, applying and tacking apparatus of FIGURES 1 and 2. In FIGURE 2, there are shown pockets 10 and 11 as they progress through the cover applying operation, which includes cover source 40 supplying cover material 41 by means of feed rolls 44 and being cut into suitable length by cutters 46 and 47. In the operation shown, pockets 10 and 11 are forced transversely together by coaction of rotating means 25 and cam rail 27 to a point of closest possible physical approach of the two pockets. At the same time, a unitary sheet of cover material has been cut and is applied to the pockets in this forced-together relationship in a manner such that the containers in both pockets are covered by the single cover sheet 48. This cover sheet is temporarily attached to both containers, as shown by reference numeral 67, and then cut by cutter 66 to yield individually covered containers, as shown by reference numerals 68. The forced together pockets 10 and 11 are then allowed to, or are forced to, transversely separate to their original spaced apart or separated condition. It should be noted that instead of cutter 66, a longitudinally perforated cover material can be used so that when pockets 10 and 11 are separated the force of separation also tears the perforated cover 48 into two individual covers 68. Also, along with cutters 46 and 47, a longitudinal perforator can be used to perforate cover material 41, so that a solid cover material can be fed to feed rolls 44, but a longitudinally perforated cover 48 is applied to pockets 10 and 11, which cover 48 can then be separated into individual covers 68 by the force separating pockets 10 and 11 transversely and without the use of cutter 66.

FIGURE 3 depicts the bottom view of bottomless pockets 10 and 11 with their interior open space 3 and rotating members 24 and 25. Pockets and 11 are held together by members 12 and 13, which may be threaded into pocket 10 and loosely mounted in drilled holes in pocket 11, the two pockets being urged apart by resilient means 14 and 15. Pins 16 and 17 fit slidably into bushings 30, which are pressed into drilled holes in pockets 10 and 11. These pins provide means for connection with driving chain 18 by means of support and driving members 19 and 20, and through a slot 19', shown in FIGURE 4. Further, angle bar 26 is shown, under which roller 24 moves in order to prevent pocket 11 from deviating from a straight and level plane of travel. Also, rail cam 27 is shown, which coacts with roller 25 to force pocket 11 transversely toward pocket 10. Also, there are shown four chains 18, 21, 22' and 29, which support pockets 10 and 11 and which in turn are supported by plates represented for sake of simplicity by a single plate 23. The two chains 18 and 29 are mounted on either side of members 19 and and affixed thereto to thereby provide the means through which motivating force may be transferred to pockets 10 and 11. It is possible to use single chain in connection with members 19 and 20, however, two chains are desirable in order to help support pockets 10 and 11. It should be noted that rotating means 24 and 25 are also provided on pocket 10 and, therefore, guides similar to bars 2 and 26 and cam 27 will be provided on the other side for coaction with rollers 24 and 25 on pocket 10. Although rollers are preferred, if desired, roller 24 can be replaced by a fixed skid block and roller 25 by a fixed cam block.

FIGURE 4 shows members 19 and 20 of FIGURE 3 and also shows slot 19 through which pins 16 or 17 slidably fit. If 19 has a slot 19, 20 may have simply a round hole through which pin 16 fits. The purpose of the slot 19' is to allow the distance between members 19 and 20 to shorten at the chain carried the pockets 10 and 11 around the end sprockets 1 and 1 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 shows chain 21, which contains a roller 28 under which resides bar 23, which bar supports chain 21. A bar similar to bar 23 can be provided under each of the four chains shown in FIGURE 3.

It should be noted that existing packaging machines can be and have been adapted to utilize this invention and its various accompanying advantages.

Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope of this disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

I claim:

1. A pocket means for holding and supporting at least one container while at least covering same comprising at least two container receiving forms each having an open top portion and a bottom portion of a size in relation to said open top portion such that the walls of each of said forms substantially support the walls of a container when placed therein, at least one connecting means between two sides of said forms which is slidable in at least one of said forms, resilient means connected between said forms and biased in a manner such that said forms are normally forced apart, support means carried by said connecting means and adapted to support said forms and to transmit motivating force thereto, guide means, rotating means carried on the outer sides of at least one of said forms and adapted to coact with said guide means and to at least one of support said forms and maintain said forms in a substantially fixed plane of movement, said rotating means also being adapted to coact with said guide means to transversely force said forms together along said connecting means and against the normal bias of said resilient means.

2. A pocket means according to claim 1 wherein said at least two forms have open top and open bottom portions, said open top portions being of such a relation to said open bottom portions that the interior walls of said forms substantially support the walls of containers when placed therein, said connecting means comprises at least one first connecting means between two sides of said forms and slidable in one of said forms, said first means having mounted thereon resilient means biased in a manner such that said forms are normally forced apart to the full extent allowed by said connecting means, and at least one second connecting means between said forms and slidable in one of said forms, said second connecting means having mounted thereon support means to support said forms and to transmit motivating force thereto, said rotating means comprises a first rotating means on the outer sides of said forms from said first and second connecting means, said first rotating being adapted to coact with said guide means and to maintain said forms in a substantially fixed and substantially level horizontal plane of movement, and a second rotating means carried on the same sides of said forms as said first rotating means, said second rotating means being adapted to coact with said guide means to transverely force said forms together along bot-h said connecting means and against the normal bias of said resilient means.

3. A pocket means according to claim 1 wherein said at least two forms each have open top and open bottom portions and said open top portion is of less total area than said open bottom portion and the interior walls of said forms each are contoured from said top portion to said bottom portion in a manner which will allow substantially complete support of the walls of a container when placed in any one of said forms, and said connecting means are between two adjacent sides of said forms, said connecting means having mounted thereon resilient means biased in a manner such that said forms are normally forced apart.

4. A pocket means according to claim -1 wherein said at least two forms each have open top and open bottom portions, said connecting means comprises first connecting means between two parallel disposed sides in said forms and slidable in one of said forms, said first means having mounted thereon resilient means biased in a manner such that said forms are normally forced apart to the full extent allowed by said connecting means, and a second connecting means between the same sides of said forms as they carry said first means and slidable in one of said forms, said second means having mounted thereon bracket support means to support said forms and to transmit motivating force thereto from a drive means, said rotating means comprises a first rotating means carried on the outer sides of said forms from said first and second connecting means, said first rotating means being adapted to coact with said guide means and at least one of support said forms and maintain said forms in a substantially fixed horizontal plane of movement, and a second rotating means carried on the same sides of said forms as said first rotating means, said second rotating means being adapted to coact with said guide means to transversely force said forms together over both of said connecting means and against said resilient means.

No references cited.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner. 

